Demise of The Dragon
by GeorgePotterTheSecond
Summary: Harry is having a boring post HBP summer (A-U) while voldie has some sinister nefarious plans underway. What are those plans? What will Harry do with his boring summer? DISCLAIMER: Absolutely first time fic so proceed with caution.
1. The Bored and the Criminal

Chapter One: The Bored and the Criminal

Summary and Warnings: First-time fic, Slightly A-U post-HBP, more realistic TMR, (present-day timeline, American lingual style, and wording) Starts off slow, Soon to be sped up.

Prologue: The young man tossed and turned in his sleep, twisted and rolled about in his sweat-soaked sheets. He was not having a pleasant dream at all. He wasn't even dreaming. In his tortured mind's eye, he saw a monster. The monster, who was some sort of macabre animated collection of bones, flesh, and blood, was expounding on his latest diabolical plan. "With my new plan, the castle is as good as vanquished," the man (if you could call him that) whispered sinisterly in his low, cold voice to the crowd of black-robed sycophants standing around in an obedient huddle. He continued, "The only thing that could go wrong is the enemy improving their own divisive and petty nature, and don't we all know that the nature of the so-called Light is unchangeable, immovable, and inflexible?" With loud sucking-up cheers of adulation, the speech ended, and the cannon fodder quickly vacated the throne room. Many miles away, a boy rolled roughly onto the floor next to his bed with a loud thump. Rubbing his shoulder, he climbed back into bed, pulled the sheets over himself and promptly forgot any vision he may have just witnessed.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

I woke up to the sun's rays in my eyes. Wincing at the blinding light, I grumbled at this rudest awakening, and I scrambled to close the curtains. As I hurried to get rid of the pesky sunlight, I felt a soreness in my left shoulder. Stopping to examine it, I realized that mysteriously, I now had a new black and blue mark to add to my extensive collection. "Oh great," I said to myself. "I don't even know where this one came from." By this time I couldn't argue with the fact that I was way too wide awake to even try to catch a few more minutes of delicious sleep, so I went to get ready to face another boring day.

I went downstairs to get some breakfast, but there was nothing to eat. "Hey, I forgot that I'm rich, didn't I," I said. (once again to myself). I quickly left the empty house, heading for the local bakery. I sat at one of the tables munching on my donut, sipping my coffee, and glancing at the headlines of the daily paper. I was pleasantly surprised to note, that the absence of news in the paper was good news. "But hey, that makes no sense," I thought to myself. "Yeah, why should things be so quiet when every day for the last few weeks there hasn't been any letup from the terrorism perpetrated and orchestrated by my old nemesis?" I continued to ponder the latest development for a few more minutes. My mind then wandered on to my plans for the day. Huh, I didn't actually have any plans. Hmm, what to do, what to do. Suddenly, I had a brainstorm. I know, I'll make a list of things I need to before the new school year! No, no, too boring. Oh yeah, I'll make a list of things I need to do to defeat old Voldie. Nah, too hard. Oh what should I do, my life is so boring.

I went on and on in my own head like that for what seemed like ages, until I was distracted by a ruckus at the cash register. "Excuse me, I won't give you a penny", the women behind the counter said, it's my hard earned livelihood, and if you're too lazy to make an honest living, don't make us honest folk pick up the bill." I winced at the abrasive comments she was spouting, but it wasn't my place to teach her her manners. But then things got ugly fast. One thuggy looking guy pulled out a small gun from under his jacket. "OK," he snarled. "You didn't choose the easy way, you chose the hard way. Empty out that cash register, and give it all up." The women paled, but she acquiesced. As she was forking over the cash and coins, I saw a police car pull up outside the bakery. Two officers burst into the establishment guns out and yelled, "Everybody, hands up, now!" I put my hands up, but before anything else could happen, one thug ran over to me and aimed his gun at my head and yelled to the police, "Back off or this one is a goner!" The officers, realizing that they had a hostage situation, quickly backed out of the store. The thugs hustled us out of the main room and into the kitchen. They tied us to some chairs, gagged the shopkeeper to shut up her annoying yells, and started whispering among themselves.

My mind whirled with panic and worry. How could I get out of this one? I was soon distracted by the horrifying sight of one of the guys pouring oil all over the wooden wall and floor. He then lit the gas burners on the industrial stove and threw on the mess a whole bunch of cardboard boxes he found stacked in a corner. "What are you doing?" I yelled at them. "Don't worry, boy. We're just making some smokescreen, lots of smoke, we escape, very simple," he replied, as he shot me a smile made repulsive by a mouth of rotting teeth. I panicked, "But we'll die here if you leave us here tied up," I yelled back at him. "Don't you worry sonny boy, the fire department will be here in no time at all, and you'll be safe and sound," he tried to placate me. I wasn't as confident as he was. The two thugs left us to ourselves as smoke slowly started to fill up the room. I struggled against my ropes, but they were tied too well. I tried to reach my wand but they were in my front pocket and my hands were behind my back. "If I wouldn't have listened to Moody-Crouch I would be out of here already", I grouched to myself.

I started feeling faint from lack of air when I heard a gnawing sound coming from my left. Then more from my right. Then I heard gnawing sounds from all around us. I felt the ropes loosen the fall apart around me. I immediately dropped to the floor and tried to figure out where the closest exit was. All around me were cats. Many cats. I took a closer look and realized that they were actually kneazles. "What were kneazles doing here?", I wondered. I brushed off the thought, and concentrated on getting out of there alive. I saw that the kneazles were heading in one direction, so I thought it wise to rely on their renowned intelligence. I stumbled over a body on my crawl toward the exit. It was the proprietor. She was alive, breathing lightly, but unconscious. I sighed but gathered my energy and I dragged her along beside me. Finally we reached the door. There was a small hole that looked like some creatures had gnawed out of the wood. I was able to squeeze through, but as much as I pulled, there was no way I could get her out the same way I was able to escape. I left her there and ran around to the front of the building where the fire department was already hard at work fighting the blaze. I ran up to one of them and I wheezed, "Help, there's one more person stuck inside around the back of the building. After relaying that information I promptly passed out. I woke up quite predictably, in a hospital bed. "Oh, our hero is awake," the nurse in attendance commented. I groaned, and tried to turn over. My I.V. tube got in the way of that of course. "What a day", I grumped to myself. "Maybe next time I should be happy with just being bored."


	2. A Birthday and a Book

a\n actual magic gets done, and some a-u differences explained, and some more hinted at, to be explained in the coming chaps. (still first-time fic)

p.s. I am a flexible type, so if you want something different let me know etc. or other story ideas to do simultaneously etc.

Disclaimer: I think the Harry Potter in this A-U has severe ADHD. (Look it up, seriously)

Chapter Two: A Birthday and a Book

I woke up early that morning, my blood pounding with the exhilaration that I was finally seventeen. Seventeen, yay! I could finally do magic again! I would never be bored again! (Yeah right. But I could hope, couldn't I?) I grabbed my wand from the bedside table and brought it to my lips for a smacking emotional kiss. "Oh wandy, I will never leave you again", I promised to my dear woody companion. I lied back in the ultra-deluxe king-sized bed that I had bought the week before. I had finally gotten around to throwing out all of the Dursley's old furniture and choosing new furniture for the whole house. After they had permanently moved to the U.S. following some manipulation by the Order (at least they were good for something) and "allowed" me continue to live in their house, I was just too lazy to redecorate, but in honor of my friends upcoming visit, I managed to gather the will-power to get it over with already.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the fact that I still had to stay in the Dursley's house every summer for the foreseeable future, but deep down I was relieved that we didn't have to carry out that crazy plan that we had discussed at the beginning of the summer. In the end, we figured out that it was quite easy to keep the protections even after I turned seventeen. All it took was some of my blood, (ok a lot of my blood, but hey that's what blood replenishing potions are for) a few fancy stasis wards, and another few wards protecting the setup, and the house would be protected forever, or at least as long as I returned every few months for technical support.

I continued to reflect on the last few weeks as I automatically went through my morning rituals. I thought about the long sessions with my therapist. Jack had really helped me learn how to deal with Professor Dumbledore's death. I didn't think I had any of the angst that I had after Sirius' fall through the Veil. I rushed through the rest of my morning preparations and went downstairs to make myself a coffee. By now I had actually stocked the pantry, so there was real food in the house. I drank my coffee, put up a load of laundry (ugh) and tried to wash the dishes with magic. I failed, miserably. "But, but, that's exactly how Mrs. Weasely does it," I spluttered to myself as I cleaned soap suds out of my ears and eyes. "Splat," a huge ball of suds plopped down on my head. "This is ridiculous," I groaned out and proceeded to clean the floor, walls, ceiling and myself, from my latest fiasco. A good while later I was done. "Well, at least the kitchen is clean," I consoled myself. "It really needed a good cleaning for a while already".

I went to enjoy some well-earned rest on the couch and had just sunk myself deep into the cushions when I heard a tapping at the window. I sighed at the next typical chapter in the story of my life. I opened the window for Hedwig to enter. "Hedwig," I said as I ruffled her head feathers, "You know you could always come in through your Owl Door upstairs." She hooted in agreement but didn't comment any more than that. "Oh well", I thought. "Birds will be birds". I took the letter from her and shooed her up the stairs where she knew there were treats and water waiting for her. I sat back down and unrolled the letter. It looked like an average Hermione type of letter, but stuck on to the paper was something that looked like a book in miniature. "Oh no," I muttered to myself. "What else is new? Hermione has sent me a book." With growing consternation, quickly skimmed the letter from one of my best friends. Hermione, as usual, wrote too much, but I was good at picking out the good stuff from among all the uninteresting details. Oh, boy it looked like the forecast for today was again dull and boring with a slight chance of danger.

" Dear Harry. Hey, Harry how are you? I was really excited to come to your house for your birthday party, and we had the whole thing all planned out, but something really important came up. You see, the experts at St. Mungo's finally completed their report on Professor Dumbledores strange illness and death, so the Order has called for an emergency meeting. Of course, you would have come but you know it is crucial that you stay over there for a few more weeks to stabilize your connection with your underage blood …. ramble ramble ramble …. but no matter, maybe tomorrow we'll be able to come over for your party. I know you are really bored over there, but you know what? Now you can do magic! But I know you too well, studying is boring for you, but I have something I think might help. ("Yeah, right," I thought to myself, "Another attempt by Hermione to get me to enjoy studying"). I sent you a book. All you have to do is Finite the Sticking charm, then Finite again to get rid of the Shrinking charm, then read the book. You won't be disappointed ramble ramble ramble. This book is unique ramble ramble ramble. Have a great Happy Birthday, Love Hermione.

P.S. Professor Dumbledore gave me the book last year and said that I should be careful who reads it, but I should make sure the right people get this information.

I sighed with exasperation. Only Hermione knew me that well. Nobody else could have manipulated me like that, pushed my buttons to get me to do as they wished, but too bad, she had me there, especially with that sly postscript that she snuck in there in the end.

I Finited, Finited, and opened up the book. It was blank. "Oh, for goodness sake" I growled and poked at the blank front page with my wand. Words appeared on the page, "Security Question: What did the witch say when the plant tried to kill her?" "Seriously," I chuckled to myself, "She actually knows how to laugh at herself? Not bad, not bad at all, our little girl is growing up."

I replied to the book, "I don't remember exactly but something about wood or matches, something like that". "Correct", the book wrote out, and with that the pages starting filling themselves with actual content. "Ok, here I go," I muttered, as I got myself comfortable on the couch for a long read. TBC


End file.
